A pseudoscorpion clinging to a cave salamander: phoresy or failed predation?

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  A pseudoscorpion clinging to a cave salamander: phoresy or failed predation? Abstract Pseudoscorpions are well known for phoretic associations with arthropods, but interactions with amphibians are rarely documented. Here we report a pseudoscorpion attached to the left palpebral region of an adult male Italian cave salamander, Speleomantes italicus , observed during a visual survey in a karst cave in Tuscany, Italy. The pseudoscorpion, assigned on the basis of visible morphology and locality to Chthonius cf. elongatus , was grasping a minute cutaneous fold on the lower margin of the left upper eyelid with one chela while the salamander moved slowly over the rock surface. No handling was performed and the initial contact between the two animals was not observed. The event therefore cannot be interpreted unambiguously, but may represent opportunistic phoresy or defensive attachment following a failed predation attempt. To our knowledge, this is the first published observation of a ...

Description of a new genus and species associated to the family Chaerilobuthidae Lourenço & Beigel, 2011 from Early Cretaceous Burmite (Chelicerata: Scorpiones)

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Description of a new genus and species associated to the family Chaerilobuthidae Lourenço & Beigel, 2011 from Early Cretaceous Burmite (Chelicerata: Scorpiones)

Abstract

One more new genus and species of fossil scorpion associated to the family Chaerilobuthidae Lourenço & Beigel, 2011 are described from Early Cretaceous Burmite. Spinochaerilobuthus Lourenço gen. n., with the new species Spinochaerilobuthus andreschmidti Lourenço sp. n., represents the third genus to be clearly associated to this familial group which is so far one of the most speciose among those known from Burmite. The new genus shows several clear morphological characters which can distinguish it from the two other known genera previously confirmed as associated to the family Chaerilobuthidae, attesting the existence of a marked generic variability within this family. Further comments on the variability of different morphological characters are also presented.

Lourenço W. R. & Velten J., 2026. – Descriptions d’un nouveau genre et d’une nouvelle espèce associés à la famille des Chaerilobuthidae Lourenço & Beigel, 2011 de l’ambre du Crétacé inférieur du Myanmar (Chelicerata : Scorpiones). Faunitaxys, 14(29): 1 – 8. https://archive.org/details/faunitaxys-f-430